Shortly before first debate: Virtual face-off between Clinton, Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton are making their last preparations for the first presidential debate of the 2016 race. The debate will take place this evening in New York.

This evening (Monday), Clinton and Trump will meet face-to-face for the first presidential debate of the 2016 election, which is expected to be the most anticipated event so far in the race. Shortly before Trump and Clinton are scheduled to take the stage, Channel 2 News reviewed the positions of the two leading US presidential candidates on several issues.

In regards to the war on terrorism, Trump promised to “defeat the barbarians of ISIS.” Clinton responded by saying: “Donald Trump says, and this is a quote, that he knows more about ISIS than the generals do. No, Donald, you don't.”

Photo Credit: Reuters/Channel 2 News

Six weeks before the election, which will take place on November 8, Clinton and Trump will need to deal with the high expectations of the American public. According to assessments, about 100 million people from all over the world are expected to tune in for the debate.

The debate will take place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The 90-minute debate will be split up into six rounds of 15-minutue sessions without any commercial breaks. The moderator will be NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, who will open each session with a question. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond to the question. After that, Holt will allow the candidates to respond to each other. The questions are usually related to three main topics: America's direction, achieving prosperity, and America’s security and economy.